At this point in time, I have been 'on-the-bench' for the last three months. And although I have enjoyed my time at home, it was time to get back to work and build some data warehouses.

After much discussion with Claraview and various clients, I finally started with Mercury Insurance Group. So on Monday, January 6, I journeyed down to the Santa Ana airport, drove to Brea, CA and started my new engagement.

Valentine's Day falls on a Friday this year. That means I get to remain home with my lovely wife on this romantic occasion. I made reservations at the McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant in Roseville. The drive was easy to make and we made the dinner date with time to spare. The food was good, but the service was slow.

Jim Swan had to drive down to the Ryde Hotel for a business meeting on Saturday, March 22. He was taking a business partner with him in his large commuter van. This meant there were going to be numerous empty seats on the van. So Jim was nice enough to invite the Guays, Khos and Ogdens along for the ride.

After having lunch at the Ryde Hotel, we slowly headed back north toward Sacramento. On the way, we stopped at the Miners Leap Winery for a sample of their Chardonnay. We then continued on to the Old Sugar Mill.

The month of March began a new position at Frontier Communications. Their IT department is located in Allen, TX. Allen, TX is a neighbouring town next to Frisco, TX, where Elyse and Amber are located. I took the opportunity to have dinner with Elyse on March 25th.

Rodney's 52nd birthday was not a major mile stone. However, he got to spend the Friday with two of my favourite people; Arlyn and Dad. After spending the day pouring over Microsoft's Certification requirements, Arlyn, Dad and I went to Mimi's for a quiet dinner.

May turned out to be a collection of birthday parties and festivals.

A younger couple's son Joshua was celebrating his 2nd birthday. The party was a large affair at a park across the street from Jim and Gigi's apartment complex. There was a bounce house, kid's activities and tons of Filipino food.

May 18th saw Arlyn and Rodney at the Sacramento Pacific Rim Street Festival.

No day is complete without running into our friends Jim and Gigi Swan. So we had drinks at the Sacramento Delta King. Then we ventured over to Swabbies.

The margaritas were on the rage during Vine's birthday party.

My next assignment turned out to be very good, both in content and in location. Safeway needed someone to come down to their location to build some very complex query templates on their Teradata 13/14.10 systems. These queries would then be turned over to their business users to change as they see fit. This gave me a chance to try out the SQL skills that I had been learning for SQL Server certifications and build something useful.

The Safeway office is located in Pleasanton, CA. This was a mere 94 miles from home. There is no need to hurry to the airport or fight with new TSA procedures. I can take a nice, comfortable drive down on Monday morning, stay until Thursday and return Thursday night. The only negative about this assignment is that it is to last six weeks. The last day would be July 3, 2014.

Several weeks ago, I received in the mail (yes...in snail mail) an announcement from my niece, Miranda Ogden. The announcement was for her graduation from Junior High School in Dunsmuir, CA on June 5, 2014.

During the last six months, Dad had identified a number of items in my garage that needed to go back to McCloud. This included old, historical receipt books and guest registries. Dad wanted these items to go the McCloud museum. Dad also wanted electronic copies of Mom's McCloudland Adventures delivered to various people in McCloud. There was also the matter of returning Aunt Avis' trumpet to its rightful owner.

Arlyn travelled with me to Pleasanton, CA on Monday, June 2. She would remain in the hotel room while I worked at Safeway. Then on Thursday, June 5, Arlyn and I made the trip from Pleasanton to Dunsmuir, CA.

Our first stop was in Redding to see Aunt Avis. I had not seen Aunt Avis for over two years. The last time was while Arlyn and I lived in the McCloud hotel, probably around August 2011. I called Avis to verify she was still at home. She answered in her typical bubbly voice, but something was amiss. She asked me who I was and then laughed her question off as a joke. Minutes later, we arrived at Avis' home and my suspicions were verified. Avis truly did not remember either of us.

Physically, Aunt Avis was in remarkable shape for 82 years old. She is living in her home, watching over a neighbour's child and was still able to navigate what seemed to be a cluttered home. However, in the last 2+ years, her memories were slipping away. She remembered some things. She shared with us stories of her three kids and her auto accident that tossed Tupperware around in her VW Beetle. However, other things were gone. After a couple of hours of sharing stories, we left her trumpet with her (she did not remember playing a trumpet) and continued our journey to Dunsmuir.

We arrived in Dunsmuir, just in time to check into our motel. Arlyn and I stayed at the Dunsmuir Inn and Suites. It was cheap and, more importantly, one block from my brother's house. After getting our motel room situated, we hurried over to the Dunsmuir school where the graduation ceremonies were to occur.

Miranda received three special awards along with her diploma. She also created a video with interviews with all of the graduates than ran for about ten minutes. This was shown as part of the ceremony. The small class of graduates, about 12 students, sat eagerly in their white gowns, patiently waiting for the their rightfully earned diplomas.

After the ceremony, Arlyn and I said our 'congratulations' and took some pictures of Miranda and her proud parents, Jeff and Carrie. We had to sneak out and grab some dinner. We found a pizza joint in Dunsmuir that was adequate. We then went to the Dunsmuir Community Hall and kept Jeff and Carrie company has they chaperoned a 'dance' for the graduates.

The next day, Arlyn and I drove to McCloud to drop off the material that Dad wanted. We then returned to Dunsmuir, checked out of the motel, and stayed at Jeff and Carrie's home for the afternoon. Jeff, being the consummate BBQ expert, we had to sample is culinary crafts. He cranked out hamburgers and hot dogs for family and friends and they were good. After Miranda opened gifts, Arlyn and I said our 'goodbyes' and left to return to Sacramento.

Scott, Emilyn and Cameron joined us in Sacramento to celebrate Father's Day with Dad. I picked up some great Rib Eyes from Safeway, grilled them up, and served them with baked potatoes and a vegetable medley. Of course, for dessert, we had a chocolate fudge cake that was awesome.

I return to Brea, CA, but to a different client. The client is Ventura Foods, LLC and it is supposed to last for two months.